The City of Burien is holding an Open House on its Shoreline Master Program update on Monday, Nov. 30th from 6pm to 8pm at the Burien City Hall council chambers.

The city has been awarded a grant fro the state to update its master program, and the city’s program has not been amended since incorporation in 1993. The Shoreline Master Program is a set of goals, policies and regulations managing shorelines within the city of Burien, and this forum is intended to give residents a chance to share their thoughts, concerns and ideas.

The master program specifically addresses land use and ecological functions adjacent to Lake Burien and Puget Sound.

The Burien Shoreline Advisory Committee has been considering input received at the first open house in May 2008 and has assisted in creating a new draft Shoreline Master Program. The Nov. 30th open house is an opportunity for residents to talk with members of the committee, city staff and the consultant team and learn more about the new draft program. In the near future, the new draft Shoreline Master Program will be presented to the Planning Commission for its consideration and possible recommendation to the City Council.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Community Open House Regarding Burien’s Update to its Shoreline Master Program

WHEN: Monday evening, November 30, 2009 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Burien City Hall, Council Chambers, located at 400 SW 152nd Street, Burien, WA 98166

INFO: For more information, please contact David Johanson, City of Burien Senior Planner at (206) 248-5522

Community Open House Format:

Participants are invited to drop in anytime between 6 and 8 p.m. to talk with city staff, members of the Shoreline Advisory Committee and the consultant team. Information will be available on a number of topics, including:

• Shoreline vegetation management
• Buoys/docks/bulkheads
• Single-family construction and additions
• Shoreline restorations
• Shoreline Master Program adoption process.

The draft Shoreline Master Program will be available soon on the City website — www.burienwa.gov – and at City Hall, 400 SW 152nd Street, Suite 300. Comments on the draft should be submitted prior to the Planning Commission public hearing on Tuesday, January 12, 2010.

Here are the details:

WHAT: CASE Monthly “Sea-Tac Expansion” Meeting

WHERE: ERAC (Highline District Adminstration Office), located at 15675 Ambaum Blvd. S.W., Burien.

WHEN: Wednesday March 4th, from 7pm to 9pm

INFO: “You, your friends and neighbors are invited to attend our March monthly CASE meeting.

CASE President Brett Fish will conduct the meeting and will recognize our elected leaders attending and introduce the speakers. We have two (and possibly three, time permitting) subjects to discuss at the meeting: the SeaTac airport industrial polluted waste discharge 402 Permit (NPDES) renewal and noise pollution resulting from the 3rd runway.”

Speakers identified to date include:

• Ed Abassi, DOE permit writer and RCAA/CASE Consultant Greg Wingard will brief us on the changes that have been incorporated into the renewal of the existing permit. This permit must be renewed every 5-years in order to keep improving the clean water quality.
• Arun Jhaveri, Former Mayor of Burien during the 3rd Runway planning, will give us his comments on the current operational use of the 3rd runway. RCAA Director Stuart Jenner will give us the status us on recent noise measurements.
• Time permitting, Normandy Park City Council Woman Marion Yoshino will discuss her position on completion of Highway 509 to connect with I-5.

Questions and Comments from the floor will be welcome.

View Larger Map

Sustainable Burien is having its next meeting on Sunday, Mar. 8th at the Burien Library, from 2pm-4pm (with doors opening at 1:30pm).

WHAT: Sustainable Burien Gathering; “come join us for learning, exploring and more…”

WHEN: Sunday, Mar. 8th, 2:00pm – 4:00pm (doors open at 1:30pm)

WHERE: Burien KCLS Library, located at 14700 6th Ave SW (see map below)

INFO: Please call Lucy @ 206.242.8378 if there are questions

From their website:

Sustainable Burien is an organization started in January of 2008. We recognize the need to promote and participate in the creation of a sustainable community in Burien. We invite all residents and businesses to participate in creating a sustainable local community by sharing their ideas, passions, knowledge and talents.

At our meetings we will be collecting burned out CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) bulbs and dead rechargable batteries. People are welcome to bring any extra food items [produce from your garden, fruit from your trees, etc.] that they have and barter with others. Also bring any coupons for food that you get in the mail or from the newspaper, we’ll pass them on to the food bank, who can make good use of them.

Gatherings are held on the second Sunday of each month, – from 2:00 – 4:00PM at the KCLS Burien Library (doors open at 1:30PM). For more information, go to: http://www.sustainableburien.org.

Sustainable Burien is having its next meeting this coming Sunday, Feb. 8th at the Burien Library, from 2pm-4pm (with doors opening at 1:30pm).

WHAT: Sustainable Burien Gathering; “come join us for learning, exploring and more…”

WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 8th, 2:00pm – 4:00pm (doors open at 1:30pm)

WHERE: Burien KCLS Library, located at 14700 6th Ave SW (see map below)

INFO: Please call Lucy @ 206.242.8378 if there are questions

From their website:

Sustainable Burien is an organization started in January of 2008. We recognize the need to promote and participate in the creation of a sustainable community in Burien. We invite all residents and businesses to participate in creating a sustainable local community by sharing their ideas, passions, knowledge and talents.

At our meetings we will be collecting burned out CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) bulbs and dead rechargable batteries. People are welcome to bring any extra food items [produce from your garden, fruit from your trees, etc.] that they have and barter with others. Also bring any coupons for food that you get in the mail or from the newspaper, we’ll pass them on to the food bank, who can make good use of them.

Gatherings are planned for the second Sunday of each month – from 2:00 – 4:00PM at the KCLS Burien Library (doors open at 1:30PM). This is a new day and start time. At our November meeting it was decided that beginning in January 2009 meetings will be on the second Sunday of each month, except for April 2009. For more information, go to: http://www.sustainableburien.org.

View Larger Map

Here’s more info:

WHAT: CASE Monthly “Sea-Tac Expansion” Meeting

WHERE: ERAC (Highline District Administration Office), located at 15675 Ambaum Blvd. SW

WHEN: Wednesday February 4th, 2009 from 7pm to 9pm

INFO:

Hello Friends and Neighbors against the environmental damages from expansion and operations of the SEA-TAC Airport:

You, your friends and neighbors are invited to attend our February monthly CASE meeting.

CASE President Brett Fish will conduct the meeting and briefly update us on the DOE draft release of the NPDES Permit that requires the Port to obey (treatment) when releasing polluted airport storm water into waters of the state.  A future Public Hearing will be held later.  Brett will recognize our elected leaders attending and introduce the speakers.

The main purpose of this meeting will be to give any additional impacted people a platform to vent their disappointment and anger caused by their loss of quality of life, including financial loss of property value, resulting from use of the 3rd runway to increase normal airport operations rather than to reduce bad weather operations as planned.

At the January 8th meeting of the Highline Forum to discuss the issue of 3rd runway operations and increased airport noise, the limited hour of public comments proved that many Highline residents are very much impacted and should receive immediate mitigation.  With the current plan, mitigation will be many years away, if ever.  We need to keep the pressure on the Port and FAA to mitigate all those impacted and restore our lifestyle and the quality of life to that prior to operations with the 3rd runway.

Members of the Port staff and Port Commissioners have been invited.

Questions and Comments from the floor will be welcome.

If you have questions or need directions, call me on 206-824-6589.

Thanks.

View Larger Map

• of the majority
• of the minority (especially a large minority greater than one-third)
• of individual members
• of absentee members
• of all of these groups taken together

“The application of parliamentary law is the best method yet devised to enable assemblies of any size, with due regard for every member’s opinion, to arrive at the general will on the maximum number of questions of varying complexity in a minimum amount of time and under all kinds of internal climate ranging from total harmony to hardened or impassioned division of opinion.”

With that in mind, here’s a great way for you to learn more about Parliamentary Law – a free workshop being conducted on Saturday, Jan. 24th, from 10:30am-Noon at the Southwest Branch Library:

WHAT: A Free Public Workshop Presented By POINT OF ORDER PARLIAMENTARY LAW UNIT; The Secretary and Treasurer: Minding Your Minutes, Money, and More. Facilitated by: Robert Dolan, PRP (Robert is Treasurer for the National Association of Parliamentarians and has served the Washington State Association of Parliamentarians as Treasurer, President and Parliamentarian).

WHEN: Saturday, January 24, 2009, 10:30 A.M. – Noon

WHERE: Southwest Branch Library, located at 9010 35th Ave SW, Seattle (see map below)

INFO: http://ptoforder.googlepages.com/thesecretaryandtreasurer

Everyone is Welcome!

View Larger Map

Burien Councilmember Kathy Keane shows a resident part of the annexation area.

by Gina Bourdage

Tuesday night (Jan. 6th), the City of Burien held their third public “Open House” meeting to discuss the progress of the Projected Annexation Project at Shorewood Elementary School.

Residents of the affected neighborhoods turned out to express their concerns about various issues, including the potential change in coverage of fire and police services, surface maintenance and budget for the entire project.

“The most important thing is continuous and consistent safety services.” said Burien Councilmember Rose Clark.

King County Fire District 2 serves the Burien/Normandy Park areas, and the North Highline Fire Department covers the White Center and Burien neighborhoods. Burien City Manager Mike Martin and Fire Chief Mike Marrs assured the residents of a “seamless transition” in regard to fire services. Should Seattle annex the North Highline Station, Burien would continue to be covered until 2012 when a new station would be built and available. The details and location are still being addressed for a potential new fire station; residents were assured that public safety is at the forefront of every decision.

North Highline currently contracts police services through the King County Sheriff’s Office. The only change community members can look for will be the same familiar faces of officers in new Burien uniforms and police vehicles.

Response times for both fire and police will be equal to the current service levels, if not better, according to Mike Martin.

The roads and maintenance departments may very well see a facelift in the annexed area of Burien as smaller cities have a faster turnaround time and “…higher standards…” said Martin. When accessing the neighborhood’s current budget need for improvement the City of Seattle assessed the area as a $13 million dollar project where as the City of Burien assessed the same area as a $59 million dollar project.

Shorewood resident Cindy Traynor said “I am glad they are finally doing something. We moved to the area so that we would not be a part of Seattle, the taxes are much higher there.”

“We want to be a part of Burien.” said resident Shirley Leonard.

The worries about budget strains on the City of Burien for taking on an additional 14,350 new community members were put to rest by an independent review firm out of Portland. They found that the projected revenue from the annexed area would offset the cost of the City for the project.

Residents can expect to see two historically-linked communities reunited should the annexation pass. They will have direct access to their local government and officials by being part of a “smaller city.”

“Becoming part of Burien, your voice will be heard and have more power.” Said City official Karen Keane.

The final decision on the proposed annexation areas will be brought to the voters to residents to decide in a vote in the Summer/Fall of 2009.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: We'd like to welcome aboard Gina Bourdage, our newest Writer, who makes her B-Town Blog debut with this article. Gina is a Communications graduate from WSU, and is a longtime area resident who lives right on the cusp of the proposed annexation area. Look for more of her work here soon...and welcome Gina!]

They say that great things come in threes (unless of course you live under the new flightpath and you’re talking about airport runways…), and this coming week is no exception, as there will now be THREE meetings scheduled to discuss the third runway and the Port of Seattle!

The latest will be put on by CASE, aka Citizens Against Sea-Tac Expansion, which has a long history of battling the Port of Seattle over the airport expansion.

Well, they haven’t given up yet folks, and their next meeting is this coming Wed., Jan, 7th, from 7pm to 9pm. Here are the details:

WHAT: CASE Monthly “Sea-Tac Expansion” Meeting

WHERE: ERAC  (Highline District Adminstration Office), located at 15675 Ambaum Blvd. SW,  Burien (near Azteca & Hi-Line Lanes)

WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 7th, from 7pm to 9pm

INFO: From the invitation sent out by Brett Fish:

You and your friends and neighbors are invited to attend our January monthly CASE meeting. CASE President Brett Fish will conduct the meeting and briefly update us on the DOE draft release of the NPDES Permit.  The main subject of this meeting will be to hear additional comments on the airport noise caused by the new flight patterns currently being used with operations with the 3rd runway.

Speakers at this meeting will include new voices from North, West and East of the airport.   Many of these neighbors do not have noise insulation provided by the Port because of the different predictions of flight operations and/or calculations by averaging noise over time by the Port.  These neighbors have measured the noise levels to be “equivalent to that of a motorcycle level” in their back yards.

One neighborhood mother complained that “her baby used to sleep through the night but now wakes up every half-hour”; another “It feels like we’re in a war zone,” said Miriam Bearse, who lives north of the third runway in Burien. “It feels like bombers going overhead every five minutes at low altitude.”

We are inviting representatives from the Port of Seattle and the FAA to attend the meeting and to respond to the complaints and the plans to fix them and who will be responsible.

Bob Sheckler and the Port have announced that the postponed Special Session of the Highline Forum on aircraft noise has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 8th.  Members of the Highline Forum will meet at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s Conference Center from 2:00 to 3:00 PM to discuss aircraft noise connected to the new third runway.  Mark Reis, the Airport’s Managing Director, along with Port staff will provide information and answer questions from the members of the Highline Forum. The public is invited to observe.   At 3 PM, we will adjourn the meeting of the Highline Forum and dedicate the next hour as a Port of Seattle public comment period.  Members of the public will be invited to provide remarks. The public comment period will end at 4 PM.

Questions and Comments from the floor will be welcome.

If you have questions or need directions, call me at 206-824-6589. 

Thanks.

View Larger Map

The City of Burien is holding its first in a series of informational open houses next Tuesday, Jan. 6th from 6:30pm – 8:30pm at Shorewood Elementary School, located at 2725 116th Street in Burien (map below).

Here’s what the city says about the meeting: “Informational open house will provide information about what annexation will mean for the people within the proposed annexation area.”

Format:

• There will be a presentation followed by a Question and Answer session.
• Refreshments will be provided.
• Interpreter services can be arranged if requested 72 hours in advance.

WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 6th, from 6:30pm – 8:00pm

WHERE: Shorewood Elementary School, located at 2725 116th Street in Burien (map below).

INFO: Annexation Info Line: (206) 436-5555; Email: annexation@burienwa.gov

View Larger Map

Panelists will include:

• Grace Crunican, Seattle Department of Transportation
• Patrick Gordon, Chair, Downtown Seattle Association
• Cary Moon, People’s Waterfront Coalition
• Dave Freiboth, King County Labor Council

WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 2, 6-8 pm

WHERE: Seattle City Hall, 1F, Bertha Landes Room

Gov. Christine Gregoire, Mayor Greg Nickels and County Executive Ron Sims have set a goal of Dec. 31st to decide on a final plan. Meanwhile the official stakeholders’ group is settling on guidelines designed to narrow down the choices.

The Municipal League Foundation is the research and education arm of the Municipal League of King County. The Foundation’s mission is to conduct research and educate the public on matters of community interest and to encourage the development of civic participation and leadership in King County.

More information available at their website: http://www.munileague.org

View Larger Map